Question PC works normally in BIOS but freezes randomly after booting up, both on W11 and Linux

[andreafranceschini]

Hey guys,
I upgraded my PC a few weeks ago with new CPU, PSU, Motherboard, RAM, and SSDs. Only the GPU is the old one. Here are the specs:

• Motherboard: MSI Z790 Tomahawk Wifi
• CPU: i7 14700k
• RAM: 16GB Corsair DDR5
• PSU: Corsair RM1000e
• GPU: NVIDIA 1060 3GB
• Arctic 360 AIO Cooler
• 2x NVME SSDs (Samsung and Western)

I'm dual booting Arch Linux and W11 on the two separate NVMEs.
It worked fine for a while, I was gaming a few days ago and the pc suddenly froze. Rebooted, and it started to freeze shortly after booting up every time. Lights are on, monitor is on, but no response from keyboard/mouse/whatever. Now when booting W11 I get either the recovery mode or BSOD, when booting linux sometimes it boots, sometimes it doesn't, but when it does it freezes shortly after (e.g. when I try to open chrome or VSCode)
Some notes on what I did to troubleshoot:

• The problem happens both in Windows and in the Linux installations
• When in the BIOS everything works fine and the PC never freezes
• I tried using a bootable USB with W11/Arch Linux installers, the pc freezes with both at some point randomly during the installation for Arch, at the spinning loading wheel for the W11 installer
• I tried to format the NVMEs, same problem. The PC freezes at the start of the Linux Installation (at random points) or during the loading spinning wheel for the W11 installation
• I tried to remove the GPU and use the integrated graphics (the GPU is very old, my first idea was that I had fried it as I was playing on a 4k monitor although with every setting at minimum) - same problem
• Ran memtest, everything seems fine. I tried booting up with just one stick of RAM on the priority slot, same problem
• I took apart the cooler and checked the CPU pins, everything seems intact in the socket
• Temps for the CPU look fine on the BIOS, 30C on idle
• Disabled Secure Boot/Fast Boot from the BIOS
• I tried with another PSU (brand new from Amazon), problem persists

The only things I can think about now are

• It might be that the PSU cannot draw enough power from the outlet? Weird though, cause I used to game and run power-intensive programs before and it never had an issue with it
• CPU? I read that this is quite uncommon though... and the pins seem fine
• Motherboard?

I am running out of ideas tbh...
Any advice? Thanks!

Edit: checked the socket pins once again today with a magnifying lens, they look intact

 

[rgd1101]

what the cpu temp in bios?

 

[andreafranceschini]

what the cpu temp in bios?

around 30C degrees stable when I leave it there for 10/15mins

 

[andreafranceschini]

Update: changed motherboard, got an old i3 12100 to test, tested some configurations and I got some weird behaviour (this is all using the new motherboard, an Aorus Z790 Elite AX rev 1.1)

• If I use the i3 12100 with the Arctic Cooler, everything works normally
• If I use the i7 14700k with the Arctic Cooler, I get a constant orange CPU light on the motherboard, with no post whatsoever (tried reseating RAM, varying how much I tighten the AIO mount, nothing changes)
• So you would think that the CPU is faulty - but now for the weird part
• If I use the i7 14700k with the stock cooler coming with the i3 (so the Intel fan cooler), the system posts and boots into windows correctly (obviously with awful temps)

Any idea of why that is?

I am using the AIO pin for the Arctic cooler, connected to the CPU_FAN header on the MB (using CPU_OPT does not change anything)